Matthias of Janov (; ; – 1393/1394 in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

) was a fourteenth-century

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

n ecclesiastical writer and one of the most significant authors of the nascent

Bohemian Reformation The Bohemian Reformation (also known as the Czech Reformation or Hussite Reformation), preceding the Reformation of the 16th century, was a Christian movement in the late medieval and early modern Kingdom of Bohemia, Kingdom and Lands of the Bo ...

. He was the son of Václav of Janow, a Bohemian knight, and began his studies at the University of Prague, before leaving to complete them in

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. He graduated nine years later. For this he is known as ("Parisian Master"). In 1381, he was appointed

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

and confessor in the Prague cathedral, offices he would hold until his death. Between 1388 and 1392, he wrote several essays, which were later collected and entitled ("Principles of the Old and the New Testaments"). This work has never been published in its entirety, nor can it befound complete in any one manuscript. Some parts were falsely thought to be the work of

Jan Hus Jan Hus (; ; 1369 – 6 July 1415), sometimes anglicized as John Hus or John Huss, and referred to in historical texts as ''Iohannes Hus'' or ''Johannes Huss'', was a Czechs, Czech theologian and philosopher who became a Church reformer and t ...

and published with his writings. Janow disapproved of the contemporary Papal Schism and of the large number of papal exemptions and reservations, and criticized other Christians for placing excessive weight on accidental external practices. He advocated the removal of

saints In Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Anglican, Oriental Orth ...

and their

relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains or personal effects of a saint or other person preserved for the purpose of veneration as a tangible memorial. Reli ...

s from the churches, because of the abuses he witnessed involving their veneration. He also took the view that it was all but necessary for the laity to receive Communion every day. At the Synod of Prague in 1389 such encouragement of daily Communion was prohibited, and the veneration of images defended. Janow retracted his views and swore repeatedly that he had unfailing loyalty towards the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

; therefore, he was not punished. Still, because of his previous claims, there are some who considered him to be a forerunner of

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Literature

* * {{Authority control 1394 deaths Czech male writers 14th-century Roman Catholic priests from Bohemia People from Mladá Vožice Year of birth unknown